Great post.
Only thing that was missing was Stuart Hall and Eddie Waring to complete a 'Its a Knockout' presentation of RL. Sky's coverage is slowly returning rugby league to the dark ages. What other credible sport would seriously have pulled that stunt last night?
I should imagine the casual viewer would have found this gimmick most risible not because of the action itself but because it came from a sport that continually tries to convince the public that it is a credible, successful sport.
The game is being sold and presented like darts, british icehockey and speedway. Totally desperate and smalltime hard sell.
I'm pretty sure that Smith said both teams suffered from some harsh calls, but I don't think he expressly said that the send off was one of them.
Won't see sky going to town on Flower like they did with Luke Walsh/Thompson. Don't forget their redemption rubbish and the heroes welcome they gave him last year which was a disgrace
It's like saying Pochettino and Koeman are over-rated managers because Southampton never finished Top 4 under either of them. Perhaps it was because they sold their best players, didn't have the selling points that bigger clubs had, and maybe just didn't have as good a squad. I can't fathom why any coach at Castleford can be ribbed because they only finish 5th or 6th when in the grand scheme of things a club that size with their crowds and lack of pulling power should consider it a success to finish 8th.
I agree with Si however on Smith, to a degree. He appears to be a classy fella and I like that we have coaches like him who actively encourage attacking RL. Our game is better for having people like him involved. However, he really has under-achieved at Warrington given the players they've had. Yes they've won the Cup a couple of times, but to have only reached one GF under him is not good enough. He comes across as not really that fussed when they lose games, which is the Australian attitude of 'regular seaon means nothing, it's all about the play offs' which has seen Wire lose games they should never lose, has generally seen them finish lower than they should and has generally meant they lose the biggest games when they count. That falls on Smith, and Si is correct that if he had coached Saints, Wigan or Leeds in the same span of time and had the same players at this disposal he would have been sacked by now for failing to regularly be Top 2 and failing to be at OT every year.
Management! The top, the coach.
I agree with nearly everything you say but I think Smith was hurting last night. He just tries to cover it up but I think most of us, as fans, prefer coaches who wear their hearts on their sleeve. He also tries to be sporting and gracious in defeat. I like his handshakes with the opposition and his reluctance to criticise but I probably wouldn't like it if he was coaching us. Double standards?
It was only careless because the tw*t was caught! Yet again SKY have the opportunity to pillory a disgraceful tackle by a Wigan player and yet again they look the other way. Where was Carneys wagging finger? Up his ar*e probably! Pathetic. Bet Flower gets a one game ban. As a fellow poster has already said, should've been banned for life after the assault on Lance in our showpiece match. Just what is the point of the Video Ref? All that technology and even "Super Zoom" (about as useful as an ice lolly!) and they still side with Wigan! It really is getting beyond a joke now.
I detest Wigan, every year my hatred gets greater and greater, it just never diminishes. I honestly see them as the anti Christ.
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I can't I think it's the ubiquitous shots of the silverback and blatant video ref Fiasco's that drive me to this.
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To be realistic about it Flowers previous history should be the only issue here he cannot afford to keep doing this and the only person to blame is Wane and the way he plays.I doubt Flower would play in the same manner under an intelligent considered coach.
No excuse for this and it should be a longer ban than the Lance incident simply because the moron has had a serious previous warning.
Wane's defence of the elbow on Patten is shocking in the extreme but indicitive of the Wigan club as a whole.It is the way they play from seeking to gain an unfair advantage at every step to the constant foul play.The RFL disciplinary system will no doubt let the game down again.
More worrying is the editorial behaviour of SKY. Walsh and Thompson victimised over tackles that just about warranted penalties and very little about the assault by Flower.
Learned comment from The Don
I don't think SKY have ever liked us, particularly since the Knowsley Rd days when we would all gave Stevo shit on the popular side. I think SKY has always treated us like the least fashionable of all the top clubs. They haven't been able to deny our class over the years (particularly in the 00's) but i always thought they'd prefer the other teams to win and whenever they have given us any credit its always been spoken through gritted teeth.
screaming in the family corner, scaring the kiddies